Who else watched the premire? I was pretty dissapointed that Cartoon Network only showed one episode. Spider-Man got two on MTV last week and Justice Leage premired with the big Secret Origins 3 parter.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty good.
Robin - didn’t get to do much, actually, since he was MIA for most of the episode
Starfire - aka Anya, they didn’t even once explain why she acts the way she does, though
Cyborg - I liked his arm more than I liked him, I hope we get more of him doing stuff like that and less of the super strong/lasers thing
Raven - “Does this girl own anything that isn’t blue?” Heh.
Beast Boy - I’ll admit it, I love Beast Boy. Something about the voice and the look just makes me root for him. I loved when he turned into the T-Rex and its facial expressing when he fell through the floor. Also, the monkey. And of course, on eating meat - “I’ve been most of these animals!”
And Slade? Deathstroke? Neato. That should be a cool season finale.
I couldn’t help motice some X-Men Evolution similarities, too. Jynx’s powers were pretty much the Scarlet Witch’s powers, Raven seems to be telekinetic now or something, and Starfire reminded me of Magma. Looking forward to some more episodes.
I liked it. They really played down the inspiration they got from Anime for their commercials, even cut out the funny face Starfire made from their one of them. It was pretty funny when Cyborg turned into one of those child doll thingys they have in anime. Cracked me up.
My only major complaint was that I found it annoyed that Starfire never ever used contractions.
I rather liked what they did with Starfire (although it seems strange to see Koriand’r without big tits). She means well and is trying to fit in, but she’s clueless culturally. It’s a good approach with a friendly alien character. Ditching contractions is an easy way to make her speech sound odd without making her unintelligible. I love the line:
“We must mend your dispute by the sharing of unhealthy junk foods. I will fetch them.”
I can picture the background for it: She sees Cyborg and Beast Boy arguing, then later sees them sharing a snack. She adds 2 and 2 together…and gets 5–obviously, the junk food fixed things. At least, that’s how I like to picture it.
I like Beast Boy best, though. The monkey business and the “I’ve been most of these animals” put him on top in my book.
The episode was a bit clunky in places, but there were enough good bits that I’ll keep watching the series. I like the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, even the looney physics Sock Munkey didn’t like. I like Justice League, but that’s enough super-hero angst for me. Of course, I also like some rather silly anime.
My impression was that they were trying way too hard. Couldn’t they have just taken inspiration from anime without having to do the whole super-deformed, bulging vein, hand-behind-the-head-embarrassment, sweat-drop thing? Plus the theme song? It all just feels too forced. Next they’re going to be doing the nose-bubble thing while the characters sleep.
But then again, I’m definitely not the target audience for the show. (Geeky enough to be close, but I’m much too old.)
I guess I should preface this post with my standard warning: I know nothing about the established continuity or incarnations of this series. Much like with X-Men: Evolution, this is my first experience with Teen Titans.
That being said, I was a bit apprehensive about the series. It looked all right, but the promos for it really made me think that this was going to be some sort of slapschtickish puns-a-plenty try-and-fail comedic disaster. I mean, they’re fighting for “truth, justice, and the last slice of pizza.” Still, I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised that the promos must have been for some alternate universe show called Teen Titans.
I really liked the main characters. I think that Raven is my favorite with Beast Boy a close second. There’s just something about moody, angsty women that I like. Or it could be a consequence of several of my webcomics taking a moody turn lately. Beast Boy just has the coolest voice, I think. I also think he had the best lines in the episode. The rest of the good guys I liked, but Robin was pretty underutilized. You never saw him do anything than be the heroic leader. Everyone else got a fairly good amount of emotion in the episode.
I aboslutely loved the theme song, but I was already a fan of Puffy AmiYumi, the Japanese girl band that performed it.
That said, I thought it was a cute show that is definitely aimed at a younger audience than Justice League. People on DC Comics’ message boards are screaming bloody murder that the cartoon is not honoring “their” Titans (mainly from the 1980s series by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez), but this is not a show catering to them, the lifelong comic book readers. The humor and the stylized anime-esque art are meant to appeal to Japanimation-loving kids, so let the kids have their fun, I say. Starfire and Raven were adorable, and the target audience might just be inspired to pick up a comic book later.
I mostly liked it, although I only have a passing familiarity from the 80s comic series. The character names and images are known to me without any real loyalty. I liked Beast Boy and Raven best, but hope they explore Starfire’s background and naivete more. Cyborg didn’t quite work for me, and was taken out way too easy and often to root for. I’d did like the tension/rivalry between him and Robin though.
But that theme song has got to go. I know the whole show is dripping in anime/manga touches and aimed at a much younger audience than me, but that is too much cute factor. To me it’s strange that CN would go with a theme song like that considering that they ditch many of the theme songs to real anime that they show during Toonami and Adult Swim. When I’ve seen tapes or DVDs of some of the shows with the original themes, I can see why.
I watched it, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be more like the last couple batman series (the animated series; batman beyond) that are enjoyable to kids and adults alike, but, concuring with what ** widdershins** said, it seems to be aimed solely at a much younger audience than than those shows. I don’t think I’ll be watching it again.
Actually I think CN has stopped dumped the Japanese opening and closing songs from their cartoons. Or at least is keeping most of them. Especially those on Adult Swim.
Jinx did look very familiar to me. For some reason she makes me think of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” but I can’t see why.
Does Starfire have a crush on Robin?
Well, in the New Teen Titans comics (on which the show is rather loosely based), Starfire’s first conscious action after arriving on Earth was to kiss Robin. She definitely had an interest in him then, but I don’t recall how it all turned out, as I didn’t read very many of them.
FWIW, I also got a sort of Jack Skellington vibe from the way Jinx moved; I think it was the stiff-limbed handsprings and the fact that she’s skeletally thin.
They definitely did for all of them on Adult Swim. Which is great. For one, it means that the phenomenal opening of “Cowboy Bebop” is left intact. And for another, it finally lets people see the best opening ever, “The Big O.” That one had been brutally left out when CN ran the series under its Toonami block.
I’m half amused, half annoyed to have seen this thrice so far. (OTOH, I’ve also seen the theme complemented, so…:p)
The theme song is a big reason why I want the show to air in my area. I’m a big fan of the group that does it (PuffyAmiYumi), and the fact they did this just makes me squeal in fanboyish glee.
::Chants ‘More Puffy! More Puffy! More Puffy’ and marches with a big sign::
Do you see the pads on Hobbes’ feet? Beast Boy had green pads drawn on the bottom of his boots.
PuffyAmyYumi (or is that a hated acronym?) must have also done the music video for the Powerpuff Girls. The one that they had to subtitle. I like it. It’s just the perfect distance from perfect sounding English. Teen Ti tan.
